Two New Pokemon Games Coming to Nintendo DS in March

Nintendo on Monday announced the March 2011 release of "Pokemon White Version" and Pokemon Black Version" for Nintendo DS.

Pokemon players will soon meet new characters in new settings in a pair of games set to launch this spring. Nintendo on Monday announced the March 2011 release of "Pokemon White Version" and Pokemon Black Version" for Nintendo DS.

Nintendo said that with the game, players will encounter more than 150 new Pokemon characters who can be caught and trained then unleashed in battle.

"'Pokemon Black Version' and 'Pokemon White Version' represent a generational leap forward for the renowned series, delivering an unprecedented number of new Pokemon to catch, battle, and trade," Marc Franklin, director of public relations for Nintendo America, said in a statement. "Whether you have played the Pokemon video games before or are just getting interested in them, you won't want to miss 'Pokemon Black Version' and 'Pokemon White Version.'"

The games will feature new characters as well as old favorites, although it depends on the game. For example, Nintendo said that Reshiram is only available in "Black Version," whereas Zekrom will only be found in "White Version."

For the first part of the story, all of the characters are new, Nintendo said. Players will start the game with their choice of three new Starter Pokemon. These new characters include the Grass-type Snivy, the Fire-type Snivy, and the Water-type Snivy that inhabit never-before-seen worlds within the games.

Players in North America can now pre-order the games, priced at $34.99 each. Nintendo said that in order to secure a copy, there could be a deposit required with some stores.

Nintendo will also launch the 3DS in March. On Monday, Gamestop said it is now accepting in-store pre-orders for the device.

Leslie Horn joined the PCMag team as a news reporter in the fall of 2010. She covers a wide range of topics from digital media to the latest Apple rumor. After graduating with a degree in Magazine Journalism from the University of Missouri, she wrote for Out & About, a travel guide in coastal Maine. One of her favorite reporting experiences was covering the 2008 Olympics from Beijing. She travels every chance she gets, and recently spent time backpacking along the coast of Brazil. Though she...
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